Browsed byMonth: November 2016

Donald Trump has proven me wrong every step of the way. I did not think he would win the primaries, and I certainly didn’t think he would win the election. Even though he was the lesser of two evils, I could not vote for him because he is truly evil. That didn’t change because he won the election. Rather than list all my reasons I could not vote for nor support Trump, I will direct you tomy first piece. In their latest disservice to America, the Left has made everyone forget all the bad things about Trump. I’ll only speak for myself, but so far my happiness about a Hillary loss, and everyone on the Left entering a dark place of despair where there has been much wailing and gnashing of teeth, has far outweighed my fear and skepticism for a Trump presidency. As always, reality is more important than feelings. The enemy of your enemy is not always your friend. Both Democrats and Republicans need to be honest about Trump. It’s time for a reality check. #ActuallyHeISYourPresident, so let’s take a quick dip into The Good and The Bad of President-Elect Donald Trump.

The Good

Term Limits: This is a good thing that everyone should be getting behind, no matter which side of the aisle you’re on. Career politicians will do anything to keep their seat, only caring to benefit themselves. It is extremely difficult to dislodge an incumbent, with between 80%-90% retaining their position each election. Limiting the number of terms would ensure the true representative of the people was in the seat, and add another check to preventing an oligarchy.

Scale back Economic Regulations: “For every new regulation, two existing regulations must be eliminated.” This will allow the Free Market to actually function, compared to an Obama regime that regulated the economy to a standstill. He proposes a number of possible policies to lift some of Obama’s stranglehold on the market, and most of them seem plausible. I have the opinion that our current government sucks at almost everything, so these types of policies are particularly exciting for me.

National Security and Constitutional Rule of Law: He proposes Five actions. Cancel all of Obama’s unconstitutional executive orders, fill Scalia’s seat with a Justice who cares about the Constitution, cancel funding to sanctuary cities, remove illegal immigrants, and impose extreme vetting on all people entering our country from terror-prone regions. He has gone back and forth between whether or not he will accept a fence, but this is, of course, not the point. It doesn’t matter if it’s a wall, a fence, or a crocodile-infested moat. The point is that the illegal crossings of the border get shut down. Important Points: There is nothing for legal immigrants to be concerned about. Preventing another ISIS attack on our soil is more important than maybe hurting the feelings of Muslim immigrants by thoroughly vetting them. Everyone who tries to come here should be thoroughly vetted. If you do not follow the laws for legal immigration to this country, you don’t get to stay. These are not controversial statements. We are a sovereign country. Sovereign countries have laws and borders that must be respected.

Restoring Community Safety Act: More cops lead to less crime. That is basic stuff. Lawmakers shouldn’t be afraid of being called racist, or accused of racially profiling. Reality is reality. Again, stopping the crime is objectively more important than hurting subjective feelings. Stop the crime, improve the communities, businesses will want to open there, which provides jobs and other economic benefits. Would you want to open a business in a city where the store will get robbed, or you’ll get mugged walking back to your car?

School Choice: The public education system in this country is, at best, troubled. I place the blame mainly on tenure and lack of school choice. If teachers can’t be fired, they have no reason to do a good job. If the students have no choice but to attend a particular school, that school has no incentive to perform well. This is why the DMV sucks, you can’t “just go somewhere else,” so why should they care if they give terrible customer service after you’ve waited 3 hours?

The Bad

I’ve already discussed Trump’s character. There are many terrible things to talk about. At the end of the day, a president can still be an effective leader even if he is a terrible person. We have survived this before, the most recent and prominent being Woodrow Wilson and Bill Clinton. As I’ve also discussed before, Trump is no hero of Conservatism in all his policies. We must be honest about him.

On the books, Trump has only one consistent ideology that I take issue with: his Free Trade Opposition. Trump and Openly-Socialist Bernie Sanders have almost the same position on this. That should tell you something. The solution to foreign competition is not punishing people for going with the competition, the solution is being better than the competition and incentivizing Americans to stay domestic.

My issue with Trump’s policies so far, especially those “hot topics,” is that he is very inconsistent. From little things that don’t matter, Fence vs Wall, to things that really do matter, like what he plans to do with Obamacare. On 60 Minutes last week, Trump said that he would be keeping in the “pre-exisiting conditions” part of Obamacare in his “much better” plan, which he is yet to spell out, in case you haven’t noticed. That’s a major reason that premiums are skyrocketing, and Obamacare is failing. Insurance companies make money because they bet that you are not going to get very sick. You can’t buy fire insurance after your house burns down. A non-smoker has a much lower chance of needing help than the guy who has smoked “a pack a day” for 50 years, so the non-smoker pays significantly less per month. Americans would rather take the penalty, than pay for an over-priced insurance they don’t need.

I said in my last piece that Trump believes nothing, and would say anything to get elected. He shows not only inconsistency in policy promises, but inconsistency in logic. In the interview last week, he said the following two things: that he would appoint Justices to the Supreme Court who would overturn Roe v Wade, and return abortion laws to the States AND that his position on gay marriage is “irrelevant because it’s already settled. It’s law. It was settled in the Supreme Court. It’s done.” Regardless of your position on these topics, you must see that there’s a flaw here. Also, this is a very Leftist way of thinking. “Just the way it is” is only acceptable if it’s something you personally support.

Trump has softened on his three strongest selling points in the primary and general election: He said he would repeal Obamacare, and now he says that he is going to keep the most damaging aspect. He was one of the strongest candidates on illegal immigration, one of the reasons I think he won the primary, and now has pivoted to almost an identical position that he smashed Marco Rubio for in the primaries. He also for the last year has been the candidate of “Lock Her Up” and “the special prosecutor,” and now says that he will not pursue Clinton because she’s “a good person.” Now I understand that this is just politics, and he is trying to bring the sides together, but this was a major part of his campaign. He also hired a lobbyist, Mike Catanzaro, to lead his energy team despite the strong stance he took against lobbyists having a role in government. These are just a few of his flip-flops, and individually they don’t seem like a big deal, but what is coming next?

Final Thoughts

President-Elect Trump hasn’t done anything yet. Almost everything people are overly concerned about is simply based on media-hype and speculation. I have already addressed a few of the biggest issues those on the left have, and here I’d like to address a few more.

I implore all people in the United States to read the Constitution and the Federalist Papers. From those, we need to clarify two important things: what your rights actually are, and what powers the president has. I hear too often from many Americans “WE HAVE A RIGHT TO… (insert thing they don’t have a right to).” Just because you want something, doesn’t mean you’re entitled to it. There is a reason we have so vehemently opposed Obama’s overreaches for the last 8 years. The office of the presidency was not intended to have this much power. You supported Obama using the Constitution as toilet paper because you were getting what you want. Did you really think the pendulum wouldn’t swing back?

I won’t speculate on Trump’s potential cabinet picks. As far as his current picks that are causing people to lose their minds: We all need to hope that Reince Priebus has more power than Steve Bannon. I also think it’s important to note that Bannon is not a white supremacist. He’s a nefarious man who has ruined Breitbart News, and panders to the alt-right white supremacists. There is zero evidence that he is one himself, though I know that evidence doesn’t matter to the Left. I mean, how could the Huffington Post be wrong? You should be much more concerned about his economic ideas. In regards to Jeff Sessions: He was prevented from attaining a judgeship in 1986 due to alleged “racist remarks.” His factual track record, however, shows quite the opposite. He desegregated schools in Alabama, and led the prosecution of a KKK leader, who he ensured was executed by the way, which led to a seven-million-dollar civil suit, which broke the Klan in Alabama. So, he might be racist, but he also fiercely battled racism. Refer to what I said earlier about bad people/good leaders. You’re going to draw your own conclusions, but those are the facts.

No, he’s not going to put Muslim citizens on a registry. This is a myth. As we’ve said, he will implement a strong vetting process for those who try to enter the country, or suspend immigration from ISIS affected areas of the world until that vetting system is ready. This will not be a repeat of World War II, on any side, let’s calm down a bit.

Yes, Trump is going to act to remove your ability to murder unborn humans, and he’s certainly going to stop forcing tax payers to fund your convenience killings and your birth control. If Trump is all the horrible things you say he is, and you’re most worried about birth control and abortion, you might want to re-evaluate yourself as a human.

As mentioned above, Trump’s clearly not against gay marriage. All the Mike Pence demonization from the Left is the same stuff they’ve said about every hard-right Christian Republican for the last decade, so no one cares. Trump defends certain Religious Freedom Acts. Religious Freedom is both what allows for same-sex marriage of those who wish to take part AND what forbids forcing Christian businesses to take part. You cannot have one without the other. You don’t have to like it, I don’t have to like it, they don’t have to like it, but that’s the whole point. You have a right to live as you please. You do not have a right to force others to live as you please. Expecting millennia-old religions to completely abandon their doctrine for the sake of your feelings is incredibly selfish. Stop it.

This is nowhere near a complete list, and we are learning more every day, but it is vitally important, for the sake of the country, to be honest about Trump. For Republicans, call him out when he does bad stuff. For Democrats, you need to accept that he’s going to do good stuff. I’ll end on a final word to Liberals: If you’re ready to impeach him over tweets about Hamilton, you won’t be taken seriously when he does something actually terrible. Your volume is turned all the way up, and he hasn’t even stepped into office. It won’t be as bad as you think. I have always been honest about Trump, and will continue to be honest about him. Good and Bad. If he attempts to overreach on power, I will call him on it. If he attempts to take away yours, or any American’s actual rights, I will turn my volume all the way up and fight for you.

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Luke Garrison is currently studying Criminal Law and Constitutional Theory at Seattle University Law School, and is a graduate of The Catholic University of America. For Questions, Comments, or Hate Mail, he can be reached at contact@lukegarrison.com. To hear more from Luke: Subscribe, using the mail icon, and follow him on Twitter: @_lukegarrison.

Hillary Clinton is about to take over the White House, backed by her army of social-justice warriors and new-age feminists who stand for Tolerance and Diversity… assuming you totally conform to their beliefs and support every one of their agendas. Should you not bend the knee to them, they will destroy you. We see outspoken Conservatives lose their jobs and have their reputations destroyed, simply because they do not comply with the current acceptable “group think.” We are watching, in real time, the United States slip into an Orwellian nightmare.

The central locations for this borderline-fascist movement are American college campuses. Since the 1960’s, colleges have decided to appease the violent leftist students, rather than combat them. The compromise has been “you stop rioting, we promise to teach about how awful America is, and to further your victim narrative.” Those appeased hippie-rioters are now the leaders of Academia. They are passing the torch of Leftist insanity from generation to generation, seeking to verbally and/or physically bully all those who disagree with their ideals, or lack thereof.

We’ll start with the most important, controversial, offensive tradition of our time: Halloween. Yes, that’s right. The tradition of children dressing up in fun costumes and being allowed to take candy from strangers in recent years, has become more about adults putting on lingerie and having too much to drink. So, upon which aspects of Collegiate Halloween are the social justice warriors focusing? Binge-drinking? Sexual assault? Nope! Not important. The most important travesty to prevent this Halloween is whether a person’s choice of costume is offensive to anyone anywhere ever. Aren’t you glad we’re focused on the important issues?

In 2015, Yale’s “Intercultural Affairs Committee” released a statement telling the students of the University which costumes they should not wear because they could cause offense. Nicholas Christakis, a Yale professor, and his wife Erika, a lecturer in psychology, had the audacity to question the statement’s censoring and controlling implications. What ensued was a campaign of character defamation and public shaming started by a small portion of the “ever-tolerant” Left on campus, simply because they injected a different line of thought into discussion. There is a viral video that shows an exchange between Nicholas and Jerelyn Luther, one of the social justice warriors (hereafter referred to as: SJWs). Jerelyn is seen shrieking at Nicholas, calling him “disgusting,” telling him to “be quiet” when he tries to explain himself, and yelling that “he should not sleep at night” because of what he’s done. She screams “Who the f*ck hired you?!” (Spoiler alert: she did. She was on the hiring committee that brought him to Yale). Both Nicholas and his wife have stepped down at Yale. A celebrated victory for Diversity and Tolerance.

In 2016, NYU Professor Michael Rectenwald was forced to go on “paid leave” after tweeting, from an anonymous account against the ridiculous aspects of the “politically correct” or “outrage” culture. He chose to make the account anonymous due to the reactions he faced, like the Yale professors faced, when he voiced his opinion. In early October, he used his Twitter persona to criticize the recent attempts to “protect students from uncomfortable speech.” After admitting that he was behind the account, he was brought in and told that he was being put on leave because the administration was concerned about his mental health. In an interview with the NY Post, Rectenwald said “They had no reason to believe my mental health was in question, unless having a differing opinion makes you insane.”

The silencing of different opinions does not only apply to the professors of these institutions. They are also in the business of banning Conservative speakers that are brought in by student clubs or associations. North Carolina University banned speakers Katie Pavlich and Ann McElhinney, DePaul University banned Ben Shapiro, William’s College banned John Derbyshire, Warwick University banned Maryam Namazie, Fordham banned Ann Coulter, Brandeis University banned Ayaan Hirsi Ali… this list goes on… Should, by accident, one of the evil Conservatives make it through the vetting process, they are met with riots, screaming and literal whistle blowing during their presentations, pulling of the fire alarm, and a barring of the doors “red-rover” style so that no one may enter the venue. Just look up UMass’s protesters screaming during Steven Crowder, Milo Yiannopolos, and Christina Hoff’s presentations, or UCLA violently protesting Ben Shapiro. Gone are the days of “I don’t agree with what you say, but I’ll defend to the death your right to say it.”

College is supposed to be a preparation for the real world; a place where developing minds are exposed to new ways of thinking that challenge their preconceived notions. Instead, people are entering the post-graduate life having never been exposed to ideas that oppose their own. They’ve spent their entire educational career in an echo chamber of the current leftist agendas. After the banning of a speaker, the university releases a statement that is usually along the lines of “we are concerned for the safety of the students.” So, instead of saying: “Hey Leftists, stop acting like babies,” they cancel events so that they don’t have to expose the students to the danger of different ideas. In the real world, you can’t hide from other people’s ideas in safe spaces, and you don’t get trigger warnings when some words might offend you or cause you to use your brain. The “Thought Police” don’t follow you once you graduate, at least not yet.

This ideology is beginning to become the mainstream thought of our civilized society, from the floors of the presidential debate, to every day conversation, to fiery battles on Facebook. If you don’t comply with the mainstream Leftist thinking, you are labeled as a bad person. Here’s the reason: the Left cannot defeat you on policy or logic alone. They know they can’t fight with facts, so they attack the character of those who don’t agree with them. Illustrating the proven ineffectiveness of Gun Control? You must enjoy that kids are being killed. Have some statistics demonstrating the benefits of a Free Market, or that the Affordable Care Act is both not affordable and is, in fact, imploding? Wow, I didn’t know you hate poor people. Think killing unborn babies is wrong? You’re a misogynist that wants to keep women in the kitchen. Misogynist, Sexist, Homophobe, Transphobe, Xenophobe, and, their most sacrosanct, RACIST. So now, instead of continuing the intelligent political discussion about policy, most people get suckered into defending their character and “checking their privilege.” You must resist this. If you deflect the character attacks, and keep a Leftist on policy, they will lose. Every time.

Millennials have grown up in an era of political correctness and a false sense of self-esteem. Very few of them have parents who force them to grow up. They get to college expecting their professors and all other humans to treat them as the precious snowflakes they are. In psychology, this is referred to as their personal fable. It is an expectation that you are the hero of every story, and that the world should treat you as such. This term was coined by David Elkind, referring to the egocentrism of early adolescents. Unfortunately, in modern-day America, that period of adolescence now spans until you’re about 30.

Besides being a right guaranteed by the Constitution, Free Speech is one of the factors that makes America the greatest country in the world. We don’t get to outlaw speech that we don’t like, we think is mean, or that offends us. The Left, the Right, the Social Justice Warriors, the shrieking Feminist harpies, the KKK, the alt-right, Black Lives Matter rioters, the American Nazi Party, the Communists, and every other group should be allowed to say whatever they want. I don’t want racist speech to be illegal, I want the racists to out themselves so that they can be properly challenged and defeated. Allowing the government, or anyone else, to decide which speech is “hate speech,” or which speech should or should not be allowed, leads the country down a very dangerous path. Being offended or triggered is completely subjective. This piece of writing will probably be hated by some people. Does this mean that because my words could hurt some feelings, they should be illegal or shut down completely?

The Left’s agenda of shutting down free speech is slowly, but surely, taking over the landscape of the country. What are we to do? The answer is that we fight. To quote the currently reigning Leftist, we need to “punch back twice as hard.” We know what these bullies do and how they do it, and we need to fight them. As is the case with the school yard bully, the Left is weakened when they are stood up to. We cannot be afraid of the names that we will be called for standing up for our beliefs. We need to speak the truth, regardless of whether or not that truth is popular. We cannot let the Left silence us. Ronald Reagan said “Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction.” We must not allow this generation to be the one that concedes our freedom.

Luke Garrison is currently studying Criminal Law and Constitutional Theory at Seattle University Law School, and is a graduate of The Catholic University of America. For Questions, Comments, or Hate Mail, he can be reached at contact@lukegarrison.com. To hear more from Luke: Subscribe, using the mail icon, and follow him on Twitter: @_lukegarrison.

Editor-In-Chief

Luke Garrison is a graduate of The Catholic University of America in Washington, DC. He is currently studying Criminal Law and Constitutional Theory at Seattle University Law School. Luke enjoys talking politics and triggering Social-Justice-Warriors while consuming dark beer and the occasional cigar.

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Step Into The Right's Managing Editor remains anonymous for professional purposes. Another victory of the Tolerant and Diverse Left. They are currently earning their Doctorate in American History, and are a Professor of History, Economics, and Government. They are also super attractive. We promise.

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-Ciaran Bruen is a graduate of Binghamton University, and is now pursuing his MBA. After interning on Capitol Hill, Ciaran worked for the New York State Government and worked on various Campaigns. When not working or studying, he enjoys playing golf and debating Leftists
-Joe Lizardi is a graduate of The Catholic University of America in Washington, DC. A former intern for British Parliament, he is currently studying International Law at Pace University Law School. ​His hobbies
include studying law and politics, developing his eccentric taste in music, and mocking the sour disposition of regressive leftists.

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